Conventionally, a printing device including a printing device having a mask raising/lowering mechanical part for raising and lowering a screen mask, and a print head unit for squeegeeing a screen mask is known (for instance, refer to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-280068).
Patent Application Publication No. 2010-280068 discloses a screen printing machine for printing a solder paste, via a mask, on a work (object to be printed) fixed on a table. This screen printing machine is provided with a mask raising/lowering mechanical part for raising and lowering the held mask and positioning the mask in the height direction of the work relative to the table disposed at a predetermined height position. Moreover, on the mask raising/lowering mechanical part, a squeegee unit (print head unit) for applying a paste material supplied on a top face of the mask is mounted movably along the top face of the mask. Here, generally speaking, the squeegee unit is heavy since it includes a squeegee for wiping the paste material, a printing pressure load mechanical part for pressing the squeegee against the top face of the mask, and a movable mechanical part for performing squeegeeing by moving the squeegee and the printing pressure load mechanical part in a forward and a rearward direction.
Nevertheless, with the screen printing machine described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-280068, since the heavy squeegee unit (print head unit) is directly mounted on the mask raising/lowering mechanical part, the squeegee unit itself also moves in the forward-rearward direction within the mask raising/lowering mechanical part together with the movement of the squeegee in the forward-rearward direction. In the foregoing case, the mask raising/lowering mechanical part may tilt in the forward-rearward direction (vertical direction) due to the movement of the squeegee unit. Thus, there is a problem in that the movement of the squeegee unit affects the height position accuracy of the mask raising/lowering mechanical part.